The Power of Life and Death - 11.23.25

Joshua Boyd

1. Review of the Core Principle

• We speak whatever fills our heart — “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
• Whatever we consistently talk about reveals what we’re feeding our heart (sports, politics, problems, etc.).
• If praise and faith come out naturally, it shows the Word is in abundance in the heart.

2. How Words Shape Belief and Outcomes

• The tongue directs the course of life (James 3).
• Words serve two functions:
  1. They lead our heart (we speak the Word before we believe it).
  2. They release power once the heart believes.
• We speak the Word by choice, filling the heart with truth until faith rises — then power is released to accomplish what God said.

3. Four Steps to Faith

1. Find out what God said.
2. Meditate on it continually.
3. Believe it in the heart.
4. Speak it with the mouth.

• This is the Joshua 1:8 pattern: keep the Word in your mouth → meditate → obey → prosper and succeed.

4. Speaking the Word Even Before You Believe

• Example: speaking healing scriptures despite symptoms.
• Speaking the Word fills the heart; once full, faith rises; then results follow.
• God’s commands carry the power to accomplish themselves — His Word is a container of power.

5. We Are Made in God’s Image

• Being made in God’s image includes having creative authority in our words.
• God gave humanity dominion — authority expressed primarily through words.
• Our words work even when we aren’t conscious of their power.
  • Example negative confessions: “I don't know…”, “I’m losing my mind,” “This will be the death of me.”

6. The Enemy’s Strategy

• Satan tries to make words seem meaningless—endless empty chatter (cable news, complaints, speculation).
• But God cannot lie because His words always produce results.
• Our words, too, produce results—good or bad—depending on what fills the heart.

7. Deuteronomy 30 — The Word Is Near

• Moses teaches: God’s commands aren’t distant or mysterious.
• The Word is in your mouth and in your heart.
• Deuteronomy = “second law” — Moses repeating the whole law to a new generation.

8. Romans 10 — Paul Connects the Same Truth

• Paul quotes Deuteronomy: the word is near you—in your mouth and heart.
• This is “the word of faith we preach.”
• The same pattern applies to EVERYTHING:
  • Believe in the heart
  • Confess with the mouth
  • → Salvation, breakthrough, victory

9. Why Your Own Words Matter Most

• Encouragement from others helps — but your own words carry the most power in your life.
• The heart believes what the mouth continually says.

10. Life and Death by the Tongue

• Deuteronomy 30: God sets life and death, blessing and cursing before us.
• We choose life primarily by our words.
• Israel repeatedly said, “We will die in the wilderness” — and they did.
• Our confessions determine the direction we walk.

11. Salvation as the Pattern for All Faith

• Romans 10:9–10 is not a “one-time salvation-only formula” — it's the blueprint of how faith works in every area:
  • Heart-belief + mouth-confession = salvation, deliverance, healing, provision, breakthrough.

12. The Goal

• Move from long lists of prayer requests → long lists of testimonies.
• Shift from “I don’t know what to do” → “Here’s what God did.”